{"id":461,"date":"2023-12-17T22:46:51","date_gmt":"2023-12-18T04:46:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mckinneyfirearmstraining.com\/wordpress\/?p=461"},"modified":"2023-12-17T22:54:12","modified_gmt":"2023-12-18T04:54:12","slug":"rifle-cartridges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mckinneyfirearmstraining.com\/wordpress\/rifle-cartridges\/","title":{"rendered":"Rifle Cartridges"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

While I spend more time teaching handguns, students sometimes have questions about rifles, so this will be a very short tutorial on that subject.<\/p>\n

Rifles have a much longer history than handguns, as man has been obsessed since at least the 14th<\/sup> C. with finding new ways to kill the enemy.  Development has gone in many directions, always embracing new technology, from the muzzle-loading smooth bore flintlock and the \u201crifled\u201d musket, to the machine gun.  The European wars of the late 19th<\/sup> C. ushered in the age of the bolt action rifle, which was the dominant combat weapon until WWII (although still common for hunting and sport).  The semi-automatic has been dominant since about 1950.  The full automatic (machine gun) actually predates those, going back to WWI, but initially they were not very portable, and not very reliable.  Why does this matter?  Because we now understand that the big bullets still fired from bolt-action rifles will tear up the guns that cycle rapidly. Semi-autos now frequently use cartridges with small bullets, but a lot of gunpowder.<\/p>\n

There are now hundreds of rifle calibers.  Here are some very common ones, with notes:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5.56\/.223\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 AR-15 rifle.\u00a0 The two calibers are the same, with different powder load.

.30-30 WIN\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 One version of a 30 caliber cartridge. The 2nd<\/sup> number is length.\u00a0 WIN = Winchester

6mm CM \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A popular hunting cartridge. CM = Creedmore.<\/p>\n

.243 WIN\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Another hunting cartridge, slightly larger than 6mm.<\/p>\n

.45-70 GOV\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Very old, almost obsolete. GOV = Government.<\/p>\n

7.62×51\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 (AKA .308).\u00a0 Hunting of larger animals. Used by U.S. for combat (Afghanistan).<\/p>\n

6.5 CM\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Slightly larger than #3 above.<\/p>\n

7.62x54R\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Russian combat cartridge (1897-c. 1950).\u00a0 Similar to the German Mauser.\u00a0 WWII.<\/p>\n

.270 WIN\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Smaller than the last four above, but much faster.\u00a0 Better ballistics.<\/p>\n

.30-06 (30 aught 6).\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A legendary, and powerful, rifle cartridge.\u00a0 WWII.<\/p>\n

.338 Lapua\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Legendary long range sniper cartridge.<\/p>\n

.50 BMG\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Very long range sniper cartridge.<\/p>\n

There are a few applications where rifles are built to shoot pistol ammo, usually 9mm.\u00a0 They are called Pistol Caliber Carbines (PCC).\u00a0 The famous Tommy Gun of the Prohibition Era fired .45 ACP.\u00a0\u00a0 The Heckler & Koch MP5 submachine gun, used by Special Forces around the world, fires 9mm.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While I spend more time teaching handguns, students sometimes have questions about rifles, so this will be a very short tutorial on that subject. Rifles have a much longer history than handguns, as man has been obsessed since at least the 14th C. with finding new ways to kill the enemy.  Development has gone in … Continue reading “Rifle Cartridges”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mckinneyfirearmstraining.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mckinneyfirearmstraining.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mckinneyfirearmstraining.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mckinneyfirearmstraining.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mckinneyfirearmstraining.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=461"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mckinneyfirearmstraining.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":465,"href":"https:\/\/mckinneyfirearmstraining.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461\/revisions\/465"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mckinneyfirearmstraining.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mckinneyfirearmstraining.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mckinneyfirearmstraining.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}